World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka secured her spot within the semifinals of the WTA Finals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over fourth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini on Monday, sustaining her unbeaten streak within the purple round-robin group.
At 26 years previous, Sabalenka is on the verge of clinching the year-end No. 1 rating. A win towards Elena Rybakina in her closing group match on Wednesday or a loss by her rival, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, will safe her place as the highest participant of the 12 months.
Sabalenka’s victory, coupled with Chinese Zheng Qinwen’s earlier overcome Rybakina – 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-1 – ensured that she is going to end first in her group whatever the end result on Wednesday, making her the primary participant to advance to the semifinals.
Australian Open and U.S. Open champion Sabalenka additionally gained her opening match in Riyadh towards seventh seed Zheng. The Chinese participant and Paolini, each with 1-1 information, stay in competition for the semifinals and meet on Wednesday.
Swiatek is the one participant who can overtake Sabalenka. The 23-year-old, who performs Coco Gauff on Tuesday, must retain her title undefeated and hope Sabalenka loses her remaining matches to say the year-end No. 1 spot.
“I’m proud of myself. Not only myself but my team,” Sabalenka stated after her win. “We were able to overcome a lot of things. To be able to show such great tennis and become world No. 1, it’s teamwork. It’s not only me.”
“Nobody sees the behind-the-scenes work. But they do a lot for me. I really appreciate them for everything they do for me. This is the motivation for me to keep winning on this court. Those guys deserve to be called the best team ever.”
Sabalenka is the primary participant to achieve back-to-back semifinals on the WTA Finals as world No. 1 since Serena Williams in 2013-2014.
Zheng, 22, notched her first profession win over 25-year-old Kazakh Rybakina of their third assembly, bouncing again from her loss to Sabalenka to change into the second Chinese participant after Li Na to win a match on the Finals since they began in 1972.
Rybakina suffered her second defeat after arriving in Riyadh with health points. Zheng, in contrast, got here into the occasion after successful titles in Palermo and Tokyo, plus Olympic gold in Paris.
“I’m really happy to win this match because I’d never beaten her before and she’s one of the greatest players right now on tour,” Zheng stated.
“Even though I had a chance in the second set and didn’t take it, I’m happy I came back in the third set and stayed focused.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com